updated 06:20 pm EDT, Mon September 13, 2010

Consumer Reports says iPhone policy a step back

Consumer Reports today chastised Apple for the decision to end its iPhone case program at the end of the month. Resorting to contact with AppleCare is "less consumer-friendly" as it forces customers to do more work to address signal drop problems and limits their choices to just Apple's Bumper case. The magazine reiterated that it still won't recommend the iPhone 4 as free cases don't address the root cause of the signal issue, an external antenna that isn't insulated accidentally bridging antennas and stifling reception.

"Putting the onus on any owners of a product to obtain a remedy to a design flaw is not acceptable to us," the publication said. "We therefore continue not to recommend the iPhone 4, and to call on Apple to provide a permanent fix for the phone's reception issues."

The magazine acknowledged that not everyone would face the issue and that the bumper was enough to solve the problem, but also criticized Apple for giving "no data" to back up the low dropped call rate. During its emergency event to discuss the drops, Apple and its CEO Steve Jobs insisted the dropped call rate was only one person per a hundred more susceptible to lost calls. He also cited a very low return rate which may have been borne out by ongoing strong demand.

Regardless of interest, public perception has hurt Apple, as customers now consider the antenna a significant factor, albeit second to the availability of an iPhone for Verizon. It has also given a major opportunity to competitors like Motorola and Samsung to attackApple by claiming their phones are immune or resistant to the iPhone's problems.

Ooohh---

Quit whining.

So you can ONLY get a bumper made by Apple now instead of any bumper you wanted. This was done originally to meet immediate demand. Now, Apple can keep up with demand of their own bumpers. Congrats for early adopters. You got to choose a different case.

What if Apple fixed the problem by permanently attaching a bumper? Would you still be upset that the customer doesn't get more choice in their free case that they don't need?

They are right or not?

I do not have an iPhone4, and not intend to have one with Antenna flaw, but let me see if I understand this. This Magazine does not recommend Apple iPhone 4 because of the already proven antena issues, and because Apple is retrieving is free bumper that partially solved antena issue.

I want to believe that Apple, after September 30, will begin to produce a new iPhone 4 with the antenna issue solved, and that is why the end of bumpers campaign. But is just a felling, I have no prove of anything. If the problem persists and if Apple retrieve the free bumpers campaign than, is a fact, the consumer will be bad served.

I am from Europe, and my main language is not English, so please can you commenters kindly explain me why you are complaining about magazine article, just because does not recommend iPhone 4, in the known circumstances?

I just does not understand some comments reactions. Probably I am missing something!

sad

As an older person it's sad to see Consumer Reports follow the same trajectory as Greenpeace and fall into the nutbar/irrelevant category.

Both of these were fine organisations that were really showpieces for what the people can do to protect themselves from the interests of the government and big business. Consumer Reports in particular always stood up for the little guy against all that was evil in the business world (and there's a lot!).

Now Greenpeace is a joke with a skeleton staff and Consumer Reports is more mindful of their own media image than of the consumers they are supposed to advise and protect. They also seem to have not kept pace with technology. Their statements indicate that they don't even understand how an antenna is designed.

I agree with them

I think CR is on the money with their analysis of this. If a company sells a defective product, that product should be fixed. The bumper program was fine as a stop-gap, and I hope that sometime very soon after Sept 30 Apple will announce a tweaked design that has an 'integrated bumper' or at least some form of coating over the metallic antenna. Otherwise it makes buying an iPhone a guessing game... buy one, and hope you don't have signal drop issues, and if you do, have to go through the hassle of dealing with AppleCare. For example, you probably wouldn't buy a car if there was a 20% probability of the paint flaking off and the body rusting prematurely, even if the manufacturer promised that you could have it repaired at no expense. You don't want to buy something that you know has a likelihood of causing you grief. I'm sticking with my 1st gen iPhone until they fix this.

Just curious

I see the Greenpeace bashing on this forum fairly often, but I'm just curious as to why that is? I don't know too much about the organization, but Gazoobee above, says that they've got a skeleton staff... Greenpeace WAS something, back in the day, but people just don't care enough to be involved anymore. So they're left with press releases condemning this or that, including Apple from time to time. So what? No credibility any more? Or is it the better with head in sand, effect.

CR is losing my respect

this is just c***. i have had an iPhone 4 since they came out. my wife just got one as well. they both continue to work fantastically and have zero...i say again...ZERO reception issues. they are great phones. the only issues i really had was with the prox sensor. that was pretty much fixed in 4.1.
CR can suck it.

comment title

It is my understanding that ALL cell phones have reception "problems" due to design / geographic location and of course the designated carrier.
As far as CR's take on both Motorola & Samsung...well now: Droid X and it's counter parts, too, have "some" reseption issues. In other words: nothin's perfect.

You know, my Treo...

Someone the other day said "Holy Antenna Batman" when I pull my Treo 600 out.

Yes, I still use a Treo. It's survived 4 Verizon Droids and 5 iPhones.

I said damn straight, I get signal where no other phone does.

At that time an iPhone4, my 2002-era Palm, and a Cliq all checked our bars. I had 4. They had two and none (iPhone4). The iPhone4 owner had been complaining about the signal since day one, however. The Android owner had been gloating about Android's superiority, and I am happy to have a GPS on my phone without the distractions and data plans associated with either of the other two phones.